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Saturday, 21 June 2014

With an estimated world population of only 1800
birds, the Visayan Tarictic Hornbill Penolopides panini is probably one of the
rarest hornbills in the world. Already one subspecies, P.panini ticaensis from
the island of Ticao is extinct as a result of deforestation, despite being
describes as “abundant” in 1905, which makes it the first known extinction in historic times of any hornbill taxon. Complicating the picture is that the species
formerly included at least five other closely related species which have since
been split. Unfortunately, before this was realised some had been crossed in
the captive population, resulting in hybrids which were useless from a
conservation point of view.

Saturday, 14 June 2014

Currently living next door to our Wrinkled Hornbill isfemale Malayan Black Hornbill, Anthracoceros malayanus. A male is off show at
the moment, but will hopefully join her shortly. They originate from South
East Asia, which is a centre of diversity for the Bucerotiformes. Among the
close relatives of hornbills are the hoopoes, kingfishers, rollers, and
woodpeckers. Most of these were originally grouped together in the
Coraciiformes, but these have now been split into separate orders.

Saturday, 7 June 2014

Scattered around the zoo we have several pairs of various
species of hornbills, the distinctive, medium-sized to large birds that are
among the most recognisable of forest birds in the Old World tropics. With
around 55 species currently recognised (although some of the island species in
Asia may be split), the hornbills fall into two natural groups. One contains
the gigantic, terrestrial-feeding ground hornbills Bucorvus and their close
relatives the Trumpeter hornbills in Bycanistes, which are grouped in
the Bucorvinae. The other subfamily is the Bucerotinae, which includes all the
other species. Bucorvines are restricted to Africa, while the Bucerotines are
found in both Africa and Asia. Sadly, we do not have any ground hornbills at
Bristol, but they are reasonably common in zoos around the world.

Sunday, 1 June 2014

The human history of the islands is as complex, and in many
ways as tragic, as the fate of its wildlife. The exact time when people first
reached the islands is not clear, but seems to have been around 800 BC. From
DNA analysis of ancient remains the population seems to have been related to
the Berber people of North Africa. The date of colonisation is suspiciously
close to the time when Phoenicians, originally from Tyre, were establishing
colonies along the North African coast, of which the most famous was the
arch-rival of Rome, Carthage. The Phoenicians were great navigors, whereas
the locals seem to have been inland pastoralists, and although there were
numerous conflicts with the incomers eventually a mixed Berber-Punic culture
emerged. Presumably at some point around this time people reached and settled
the islands, which are around 100km from the mainland at the closest point.